Jahangir Akhtar

Rotherham Council is pursuing its former deputy leader Jahangir Akhtar for £2,000 of court costs after he withdrew an appeal against his taxi licence being revoked.

The council has confirmed Mr Akhtar had said he would appeal against his licence being revoked in February 2015.

But ahead of the scheduled hearing at Rotherham Magistrates Court in September 2015, he withdrew his appeal - with the court awarding costs to the council in relation to their legal work in preparing a case for the hearing.

A spokesman for Rotherham Council said: “The council is pursuing collection of this through the civil debt enforcement process.”

The council has said that it is unable to give the reasons for the licence being revoked, but that for a licence to be withdrawn the council must have ‘significant and serious concerns for risks to public safety if the licence remains in place’.

It follows Mr Akhtar being named in court in the recent Operation Clover trial as being involved in an alleged ‘no prosecution’ deal for child grooming gang ringleader Arshid Hussain.

A spokesman for Rotherham Council said: “We can confirm Mr Jahangir Akhtar’s licence was revoked in February 2015.

“Mr Akhtar appealed to Rotherham Magistrates Court and then subsequently withdrew his appeal ahead of the hearing in September 2015, and the court awarded costs to the council of £2,000.

“The council is pursuing collection of this through the civil debt enforcement process.

“Whilst data protection prevents us from providing confidential information, we can say that the immediate revocation of a licence in this way must meet the requirements set out in our policy and the law.

“Specifically the information that the council holds and is assessing must give rise to significant and serious concerns for risks to public safety if the licence remains in place.”

Mr Akhtar could not be reached for comment when The Star attempted to contact him about the matter.